TAMPA – The first game of this Stanley Cup Finals matchup of no-name teams was dominated by one of the biggest hockey names on the world stage.

For if Calgary’s 4-1 victory over the Lightning wasn’t exactly the Jarome Iginla show, it certainly was close enough.

The Flames’ captain not only registered a stunning shorthanded goal that gave his team a 2-0 lead at 15:21 of the second, he dictated on nearly every shift with the combination of speed, strength, passion and guile that has made him a Hart Trophy nominee and a leading candidate for the Conn Smythe.

“This is something I’ve been dreaming of since I was 7 years old, and I have to say that even though I get butterflies before most playoff games, I was surprised how nervous I was,” said Iginla, whose rebound off his own shorthanded breakaway was his playoff-leading 11th.

“It was such a cool atmosphere, all the cheering and noise, it’s pretty exciting stuff. But I definitely have to calm the emotions.”

If Iginla has an adjustment to make, the Lightning face many prior to tomorrow night’s Game 2. The Flames played smarter, tougher and with more emotion against a Tampa club that often times tried to be much too cute on a most slushy pond. It was Calgary that showed better legs, Calgary that took advantage of its five-day layoff while Tampa had only a two-day turnaround.

“All year I felt we were an energy club,” said Iginla, whose team is 9-2 on the road and just one win shy of the record held by the 1995 and 2000 Devils. “Everybody is so jacked up in our room I wasn’t worried about a letdown or being flat.”

The Flames nursed a 1-0 lead they’d gained on Martin Gelinas’ triple-ricochet goal just 3:02 into the match, even falling back into the dreaded trap for most of the second. But the club probably did its best work on the penalty kill, nullifying the man-advantage situations on which the Lightning had thrived by going 9-26 against the Flyers in the Eastern finals. In addition to Iginla’s shortie, the Flames held Tampa to one shot on its first three opportunities.

“I thought we were a little skittish on the PP,” Tampa coach John Tortorella said. “We were a little too fancy all around instead of getting into a grinding game against their defense.”

While Calgary initiated and won far more than their share of the one-on-one battles, Mikka Kiprusoff was better in nets than Nikolai Khabibulin. The Lightning goaltender appeared off balance much of the night before surrendering a soft one to Stephane Yelle just 2:47 after Iginla’s score, the one that inexorably turned the tide, the one scored by the biggest brand name in the series.